Theodore eugene schiefnee



UNITED STATES PATENT @rrrcir.

THEODORE EUGENE SOHIEFNER, OF ESSONNES, DEPARTMENT OF SEINE-ET- OISE, FRANCE.

PROCESS OF TREATING RAMIE OR RH EA, NETTLES, 84.0.

SPECIFICATION iorming part of Letters Patent No. 339,331, dated April 6, 1886.

Application filed September-24, 1885. Serial No. 178,061. (No model.) Patented in France April 16,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THEODORE EUGENE SCHIEFNER, manager of Feray & 002s Works, of Essonnes, Department of Seine-ct Oise,

Francefhave invented a new Process for Treating Ramie, Nettles, Rhea, Pita, Yucca, Pine Apple, JuterlnanasGuister, Flax, Hemp, and any Kind of Vegetable Fibers. (for which I have obtained Letters Patent of France for fifteen years, dated April 16, 1885;) and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

The new process for which I claim protection is intended more particularly for the treat- 3 ment of ramie or rhea, nettles, or any other description of vegetable fibers of a similar na ture, after carding and decortication have been effected, in order to prepare them and. impart to them the qualities requisite for the subsequent operations of dyeing, spinning, &c. Compared with the processes now in use, my system has the advantage of rendering the fibers brighter, more silky, more disaggregated, and -more fit- .for spinning, the cost of preparation being at the same time considerably diminished.

This process consists of twelve principal and successive operations, to be conducted in the exact order and manner hereinafter mentioned. First operation: After having been carded ing-machine invented by myself, the fibers are submitted in a cold state to the action of a bath containing, for each five hundred kilograms of ramie, water, two thousand liters; hydrochlo' ric acid, forty liters. This bath is to be pre pared in a stone or cement vat, of about two meters in length by one meter broad, and one meter deep. The fibers must remain immersed for about twenty-four hours.

Second operation: At the expiration of this time the hydrochloric-acid bath, emptied by opening a tap situated at or near the bottom of the capacity, then closing the tap, then, by means of a T-shaped conduit at the top, a shower of cold water is admitted which covers every point throughout the entire length of the fibers under treatment. The vat is filled three times in this manner, having previously 0 emptied it after each filling until the fibers are completely washed and freed from the acid.

and decorticated by means of the decorticat- Third operation: The fibers are then removed from the vat and put into a kind of basket of galvanizediron-wire gauze, having a diameter of about 1.50 meters and a height of 1.40 meters. This basket is divided into five superposed compartments by means of perforated plates, on which the matter to be treated is more or less evenly spread. This basket is suspended to a chain passing over a. pulley or roller, the checks of which embrace a rail on which it can roll freely, so as to present the basketto any of the apparatus which succeed the preceding vat.

Fourth operation: The basket, when full, contains about two hundred and fifty kilograms of rainie fiber. It is brought just above a cylindrical boiler, ad hoc, large enough to receive the basket, while leaving an annular space more or less large between the basket and the boiler. In the boiler a lye is pie-- viously prepared, composed of water, one

thousand liters; carbonate of soda or soda salt, twenty-five kilograms; spirits of turpentine, twelve liters. After the basket has descended to the bottom the boiler is hermetically closed, directly after which a current of steam is introduced by a central serpentine tube, in order to raise the internal heat to a pressure equal to two atmospheres, which heat is maintained for four hours.

Fifth operation: The boiler is then opened, and the whole bath is emptied by opening an emptying-tap placed at the bottom of the boiler. Leaving this tap open, a current of pure hot water is admitted above to drive out the gum liberated from the fibers and dissolved by the action of the carbonate-of-soda and spiritsof-turpentine bath.

Sixth operation: The basket is then raised and withdrawn from the boiler to bring it under 2. flow of running water, where it remains about an hour until the fibers are completely rinsed and washed. These fibers are then separated without loss, without being falted, and without having been subject to any other manipulation or hand labor than that by which they have been placed into the basket.

Seventh operation The basket, which is constantly filled with the fibers, is conveyed to stine or cement vat and immersed in its contents, consisting of a mixture of water, one

thousand liters; hydrychloric acid, ten liters. In this bath the basket should remain about an hour, after which it is subjected to the usual current of water for an hour, until it is completely washed and purged of acid.

Eighth Operation: The basket is then placed in another vat containing a lye composed of water, one thousand liters, neutral soap, twentykilograms, where it remains for two hours.

Ninth operation: The basketis then removed and pushed forward to allow of drainage until the lye with which it is soaked is almost entirely eliminated.

Tenth operation: WVashing is recommenced by submitting the fiber for an hour to a bath composed of water, one thousand liters; neutral soap, ten kilograms.

Eleventh operation: The fiber is removed from the basket and immediately afterward submitted to a pressing or drying apparatus, which frees it of any moisture by drying it and imparting to it a remarkable brilliancy.

Twelfth operation: Finally,the fiber is placed in a drying-room, where it is broken by means of machinery usually employed for such purposes.

By my new process, performed in the manner hereinbefore described, the following industrial results are obtained: First, saving of time, chemicals used, and hand-labor, as my process can be better worked with two or three men than by the fifteen or twenty required to produce the same results by the old and wellknown methods; second, an appreciable diminution of loss of material by this treatment, which loss I consider to be from fifteen to eighteen per cent., while it is twenty-five and even thirty per cent. by the ordinary methods; third, production of a good color and silky brilliancy of appearance, a perfect division or industrial advantages of my invention, I declare that what I claim is The new treatment herein set forth, for ramie, 85c. and any other textile matter more or less similar-such as rhea, pita, yucca,pine-apples, jute, ananas, guister, flax, hemp, &c. consisting, st1ccessi"ely,first, in submitting the matter previously broken and decortica-ted to a bath composed of hydrochloric acid; second, in washing it by means of cold water made to flow so as to spread all over the fibers; third,

in placing the matter in a basket of galvanized wire-gauze, movable or rolling, in order to bring it and its contents successively into a bath of carbonate of soda or soda salt and spirits of turpentine, heating it with steam. After the bath has been emptied, it is then washed in pure hot Water, then washed in running water, then submitted to the action of a hydrochloricacid bath and to another bath of neutral soap. After drainage the matter is submitted to a fresh washing with soap, after which it is dried or pressed, and is finally placed in the drying-room.

THEODORE EUGENE SOHEIFNER. IVit-nesses: I

HENRY SANFORD BERGMAN, A'LPHoNsn BLETRY. 

